Glycoproteins containing Galalpha1-4Gal (galabiose) had been rarely found in vertebrates, except in a few species of birds and amphibians. We had previously reported that pigeon (Columba livia) egg white and serum glycoproteins are rich in N-glycans with Galalpha1-4Gal at nonreducing termini. To investigate the origin of Galalpha1-4Gal expression in avian evolution, we examined the presence of ...

INTRODUCTION: On earth, gravitational forces seem to play a major role in the initial stages of embryonic development, such as proper orientationof the embryo, separation of yolk from albumen, etc. Previous studies indicated that exposure to weightlessness (microgravity) during space flight might result in abnormalities in embryonic and fetal development in birds, amphibians and mammals, especi...

Although Wingless (Wg)/Wnt signaling has been implicated in heart development of multiple organisms, conflicting results have been reported regarding the role of Wnt/beta-catenin pathway in cardiac myogenesis: Wg/armadillo signaling promotes heart development in Drosophila, whereas activation of Wnt/beta-catenin signaling inhibits heart formation in avians and amphibians. Using an in vitro syst...

Birds represent a diverse and evolutionarily successful lineage, occupying a wide range of niches throughout the world. Like all vertebrates, avians harbor diverse communities of microorganisms within their guts, which collectively fulfill important roles in providing the host with nutrition and protection from pathogens. Although many studies have investigated the role of particular microbes i...

During neural development, spinal motor axons extend in a precise manner from the ventral portion of the developing spinal cord to innervate muscle targets in the limb. Although classical studies in avians have characterized the cellular interactions that influence motor axon pathfinding to the limb, less is known about the molecular mechanisms that mediate this developmental event. Here, we ex...

Trace fossils provide the only records of Early Cretaceous birds from many parts of the world. The identification of traces from large avian track-makers is made difficult given their overall similarity in size and tridactyly in comparison with traces of small non-avian theropods. Reanalysis of Wupus agilis from the Early Cretaceous (Aptian-Albian) Jiaguan Formation, one of a small but growing ...

OBJECTIVE The bursa of Fabricius (BF) is a central humoral immune organ belonging specifically to avians. Recent studies had suggested that miRNAs were active regulators involved in the immune processes. This study was to investigate the possible differences of the BF at miRNA level between two genetically disparate duck breeds. METHODS Using Illumina next-generation sequencing, the miRNAs li...

Skin melanocytes arise from two sources: either directly from neural crest progenitors or indirectly from neural crest-derived Schwann cell precursors after colonization of peripheral nerves. The relationship between these two melanocyte populations and the factors controlling their specification remains poorly understood. Direct lineage tracing reveals that neural crest and Schwann cell progen...

Objective: The essential myosin light chains (EMLC) are the major structural and regulatory proteins that control actin-myosin interaction in striated muscles. The purpose of this work is to provide a better understanding about the EMLC properties and their expression pattern during muscle development in the mandarin fish. Material and Methods: The cDNA library was constructed to isolate and ch...

Modern birds differ from their theropod ancestors in lacking teeth and heavily constructed bony jaws, having evolved a lightly built beak and a specialized digestive system capable of processing unmasticated food [1, 2]. Enantiornithes, the most successful clade of Mesozoic birds, represents the sister group of the Ornithuromorpha, which gave rise to living birds [3]. Nevertheless, the feeding ...